Category: National

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Boston said he denied the request to block the buyout offer because the federal unions who brought the case lacked standing to sue and because the District Court lacks jurisdiction to review the case.

Three federal employee unions — with the support of 20 Democratic attorneys general — have argued in a lawsuit that the Office of Personnel Management’s deferred resignation offer is an “unlawful ultimatum” to force the resignation of government workers under the “threat of mass termination.”

According to U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., the federal unions who challenged the policy are not directly impacted by the buyout offer; rather they are subject to collateral impacts such as a reduction in union membership and needing to answer their members’ questions about the policy.

“The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees. This is not sufficient,” the judge wrote.

The judge also determined that the district court lacks jurisdiction to review the dispute because the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute sets out an administrative review process before courts can take over.

“According to this complex scheme, disputes must first be administratively exhausted before the employing agency and the relevant administrative review board and any further challenges are properly heard in a court of appeals,” the order said.

O’Toole Jr. did not include any interpretation about how the buyout deadline is impacted in his order.

“This Boston Buyout Ruling is the first of many legal wins for the President. The Court dissolved the injunction due to a lack of standing. This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.

During an hour-long hearing Monday, a lawyer for the Department of Justice framed the deferred resignation offer as a “humane off-ramp” for federal employees before President Donald Trump enacts sweeping changes to “rebalance and reorganize the federal workforce.”

“President Trump campaigned on a promise to reform the federal workforce,” DOJ attorney Eric Hamilton said, outlining Trump’s plan to reduce the size of the federal government and his return-to-office executive order. “We understand these announcements may have come as a disappointment for some in the federal workforce.”

Hamilton argued that any further delay of the buyout would cause irreparable harm because the Trump administration plans to enact the next steps of reshaping the federal government as soon as the buyout window closes.

Elena Goldstein, a lawyer representing the unions that brought the challenge, hammered the Trump administration for attempting to enforce an “unprecedented program” with a “slapdash exploding deadline”

“For the last two weeks, confusion has rained for millions of career civil servants,” Goldstein said. “This is a program of unprecedented magnitude that raises questions about the rationality of OPM’s decision-making.”

The buyout offer, part of Trump’s effort to trim the size of government through billionaire Elon Musk’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, was sent out two weeks ago in an email with the subject line “Fork in the Road” — the same language Musk used when he slashed jobs at Twitter after taking over that company in 2022.

The offer from the Office of Personnel Management offered full pay and benefits until September for any federal employee who accepted a deferred resignation by Feb. 6, with no obligation to work after they accepted the agreement.

While Goldstein acknowledged that Trump has the right to downsize the federal government, she emphasized that OPM has not gone through any of the steps necessary to carry out such a sweeping move — including analyzing the cost and benefits of their approach, evaluating its impact on the government’s function, and accessing potential conflicts of interest for Musk. She added that the exact terms of the buyout are “shifting” for thousands of employees who have gotten inconsistent guidance from their agency.

“OPM appears to be making this up as they are going along,” she said. “When the government wants to decide, there are ways to do this correctly … none of that happened here in the two weeks since they enacted this program.”

Arguing for the government, Hamilton criticized the plaintiffs’ argument as “legally incoherent and at odds with their theory of the case,” because a further delay of the buyout would “insert more uncertainty” into the lives of federal employees.

While the plaintiffs raised concerns that the buyout program violates federal law by using money that Congress never appropriated, Hamilton attempted to push back on the claim that the buyout changes the government’s financial obligations.

“Nothing about the voluntary resignation changes anything about the federal government’s financial obligations. It just changes what employees are expected to do and not do during their period of employment,” Hamilton said.

Goldstein argued that a preliminary injunction is necessary to prevent what she said was an unlawful offer to reshape the federal government while the Trump administration continues to “put additional pressure on employees.”

“This is an unprecedented action taken on an unprecedented timeline,” she said.

Just hours ahead of Thursday’s original deadline for employees to accept the offer, Judge O’Toole — who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton — temporarily blocked the offer until Monday so he could consider issuing a temporary restraining offer pausing the order.

“I enjoined the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called ‘Fork Directive’ pending the completion of briefing and oral argument on the issues,” Judge O’Toole said in his ruling. “I believe that’s as far as I want to go today.”

The Trump administration, in response, “extended” the deadline for the offer, which more than 65,000 federal employees have already taken.

The unions who brought the lawsuit argued that Trump exceeded his authority as president with the offer, which they described as a “slapdash resignation program.”

According to the plaintiffs, Trump’s offer violates federal law, lacks congressionally appropriated funding, and does not offer employees reassurance that the president would follow through with the offer. Their claim in part relies on a federal law from the 1940s called the Administrative Procedure Act that governs how federal agencies create and enforce rules.

“In the tech universe, ‘move fast and break things’ is a fine motto in part because they’re not playing with the public’s money, and it’s expected that most initiatives are going to fail,” Loyola Marymount law professor Justin Leavitt told ABC News. “Congress knows that, so in 1946 they basically said, ‘When agencies do stuff … they have to be careful about it. They’ve got to consider all aspects of the problem.”

The plaintiffs also argued that the buyout is unlawful because it relies on funding that Congress has yet to appropriate, violating the Antideficiency Act.

“Defendants’ ultimatum divides federal workers into two groups: (1) those who submit their resignations to OPM for a promised period of pay without the requirement to work, and (2) those who have not and are therefore subject to threat of mass termination,” the lawsuit said.

Lawyers for the federal government have pushed back on those claims, arguing that Trump has the legal authority to provide the buyout for employees within the federal branch, and that any further delay would do more harm than good.

“Extending the deadline for the acceptance of deferred resignation on its very last day will markedly disrupt the expectations of the federal workforce, inject tremendous uncertainty into a program that scores of federal employees have already availed themselves of, and hinder the Administration’s efforts to reform the federal workforce,” DOJ attorney Joshua E. Gardner wrote in a filing last week.

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(NEW YORK) — A mother in Alabama has been arrested and charged with the alleged murder of her 4-month-old son after an autopsy found that he had been severely injured, police said.

On Jan. 25, the Chambers County emergency dispatch center received a 911 call at approximately 1:55 PM in reference to a 4-month-old infant having a seizure at a residence in the Old Jackson Heights Housing Project in Lanett, Alabama, according to a statement from the Lanett Police Department.

“The East Alabama Fire Department was contacted for mutual aid and transported the black male infant to East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC),” authorities said. “The child’s condition was assessed by the medical staff at EAMC and then flown to the Children’s of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham. Alabama.”

The 4-month-old boy, however, died in the hospital just four days later and was taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science Medical Lab in Montgomery, Alabama to undergo an autopsy about what caused his death after police suspected fould play and said “the circumstances of the child’s death are under investigation by the Lanett Police Department.”

On Wednesday, the Lanett Police Department announced that the boy’s mother — 26-year-old Jamesia Brichae Pruit of Valley, Alabama — was arrested and charged with the alleged murder of the infant.

Police did not disclose the extent of the injuries the boy suffered but did confirm that this case remains under investigation and has asked for anyone with information regarding this case to contact the Lanett Police Department.

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(NEW YORK) — Executives at CoreCivic, one of the nation’s largest private prison companies, said they anticipate the Trump administration’s new immigration policies will lead to “the most significant growth” in the company’s history over the next several years.

“I’ve worked at CoreCivic for 32 years, and this is truly one of the most exciting periods of my career,” CEO Damon Hininger said Tuesday on the company’s earnings call. “We anticipate significant growth opportunities, perhaps the most significant growth in our company’s history over the next several years.”

“The change in presidential administration on Jan. 20 has ushered in significant policy and legislative changes that directly impact our business,” Hininger said on the public call, which comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased its apprehensions of people alleged to be in the country illegally.

Hininger told shareholders that the company is taking proactive steps to prepare facilities and beds in anticipation of potential new contracts with ICE.

CoreCivic executives on the call said they currently speak almost “hourly” with ICE officials and with members of the administration, and have “active tours going on” at their facilities.

“We’ve got a proposal in front of ICE for 28,000 beds,” one executive said, adding that the offer could result in more than a billion dollars in revenue for the company.

The 28,000 beds offered to ICE comes from vacant facilities that are not currently activated, as well as from availability in existing facilities and from the South Texas Family Residential Center, the nation’s largest migrant detention center that was closed in 2024, executives said.

ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

In response to questions about the administration’s decision to use Guantanamo Bay and a prison in El Salvador to hold migrant detainees, executives for CoreCivic said they believe their facilities are “superior” to the alternatives when it comes to cost and logistics.

“We’ve got a real advantage on the cost side, especially in this environment. We’ve got DOGE out there looking at the best value for the government,” Hininger said, referencing Elon Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency.

The CoreCivic CEO also said he believes the company’s facilities are less likely to face litigation, and said they are “more humane than the other alternatives.”

“We’re feeling very encouraged by the conversations with ICE to date,” Hininger said. “We’ve got a lot of activity going on in the organization, a lot of opportunities, so it’s a very exciting time within the company.”

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(MINNESOTA) — A statue of famed novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald was stolen from outside a Minnesota building where he once attended school, police said.

The statue, which had been located outside the Academy Professional Building in Saint Paul, depicted a young Fitzgerald seated with a couple of books in his lap.

Now all that remains of the statue of “The Great Gatsby” author is part of his right hand.

Police said the statue is believed to have been cut free. Its owner, Ed Conley, told ABC Twin Cities affiliate KSTP a cutting torch is believed to have been used to free the statue. The bolts were also cut, he said.

“Disappointed for sure,” Conley, the founder of the real estate company CCI Properties, told the station.

The statue, which was located on the steps to the Academy Professional Building, was last known to be there on Feb. 3 and was reported missing four days later, police said.

The building was once home to the St. Paul Academy, which Fitzgerald attended from 1908 to 1911 as a teen. Conley said Fitzgerald wrote for the school paper and participated in plays while he attended the school.

He commissioned local artist Aaron Dysart to make the statue of the author nearly 20 years ago when he bought the building, which now houses office spaces.

“It was really fun to just highlight that history,” Conley told KSTP.

The statue of the author has been a fixture on various tours in the city, Conley said.

It would cost around $40,000 to replace the bronze statue, Conley told KSTP, estimating the metal could fetch several hundred dollars at a scrap yard.

Conley told KSTP he hopes to “resurrect” the statue and “bring it back to the community and have people enjoy it again.”

The investigation into the theft remains ongoing and there are no updates on any suspects or arrests, a Saint Paul Police Department spokesperson told ABC News on Wednesday.

Police asked anyone with information or who “recalls seeing suspicious activity” outside the building between Feb. 3 and 7 to call 651-291-1111.

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(OHIO) — An Ohio doctor has been charged with arson after allegedly setting fire to another doctor’s house, officials said.

Andrew Campbell, 33, was arrested following an investigation into the Dec. 7 blaze, which police told ABC News they “determined to have not been accidental in nature.”

On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Campbell on six counts of aggravated arson.

Authorities are looking into a possible connection between the fire and an alleged affair between Campbell’s wife and Dr. Tahir Jamil, who was targeted with the arson.

Jamil told police he and Campbell’s wife had an affair from late July to early August 2024, according to the police report. On Aug. 7, she allegedly told Jamil her husband had discovered their relationship.

A spokesperson for the University of Toledo confirmed Campbell is a fellow in their Hematology-Oncology program.

He was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the school was informed of the charges, the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.

“The University will decline further comment at this time as authorities conduct their investigation,” the spokesperson said.

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(WASHINGTON) — A coalition of nonprofit aid groups said Wednesday at an emergency hearing that the Trump administration’s “opaque and chaotic” 90-day pause on foreign aid had already “devastated” their operations — consequences they said justified a judicial order halting the administration’s sweeping executive order.

The aid groups filed suit Tuesday against President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Acting USAID Administrator Peter Marocco, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, the State Department, USAID, and OMB.

Stephen Wirth, an attorney representing the nonprofits, argued at Wednesday’s hearing that his clients’ “businesses are shuttering” while the administration sifts through its foreign aid priorities.

“Food is rotting,” Wirth said. “Medical supplies are expiring and community relationships that took decades to build are crumbling.”

Wirth and his co-counsel noted that the payment portal for government contracts and grants is “completely frozen,” preventing groups from completing projects that have already been appropriated funds.

Eric Hamilton, a Justice Department attorney, replied by arguing that the nonprofits’ lawsuit amounts to a “one-size-fits-all vehicle to litigate highly fact-dependent issues,” and that it should instead be addressed “case by case, contract by contract,” in contrast to the broad relief the plaintiffs are seeking.

Hamilton said waivers that have been put in place to rescue programs deemed to be critical to the “national interest” are sufficient to allow the 90-day pause to continue unimpeded — even through he acknowledged that “there might be some hiccups in implementing” the waivers.

“The policy we’re talking about is just a 90-day pause in funding,” Hamilton argued.

But Nicolas Sansone, an attorney for Public Citizen, another group suing the government, said some of the aid groups “may well not be able to survive the 90 days.”

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, the Biden-era appointee who convened the emergency telephone hearing, said he would issue a written ruling at some point in the future and asked that plaintiffs file a “more tailored” proposed order by 7:30 p.m. ET.

The aid groups accuse several U.S. government entities, including the president and secretary of state, of breaking multiple federal laws and violating the Constitution by failing to administer funds appropriated by Congress.

The groups claimed on Wednesday morning that contract terminations from the administration had “accelerated” in the 24 hours since they filed their lawsuits, and asked Judge Ali to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent further actions from the administration.

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(SAN DIEGO) — A fighter jet crashed into the San Diego Harbor on Wednesday, with the two pilots on board ejecting before being rescued by the Coast Guard, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue.

A Navy official didn’t confirm if one or two people were on the two-seat EA-18G Growler, but said the crew was successfully recovered.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — As bird flu continues to spread across the U.S., stores around the country are reporting a shortage of eggs amid soaring prices, high demand and supply limits.

More than 150 million poultry birds have been killed across all 50 states in an attempt to combat bird flu since 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The number of birds affected by the virus has been rising in recent months, with roughly 7 million affected in November, 18 million in December and 23 million in January, according to the latest figures from the USDA.

Over the last 30 days, 150 flocks were confirmed to test positive for bird flu, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Once a bird is infected, the only way to stop the virus from spreading further is to depopulate or cull the entire flock. It can take time for a flock to repopulate to lay eggs, affecting their price.

The Consumer Price Index, published Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed prices were 3% higher in January compared to a year ago. Prices for eggs increased 15.2% — the largest increase in egg prices since June 2015, according to the bureau.

As grocery stores and supermarkets limit the number of cartons of eggs that can be purchased, some people have resorted to stealing in order to get their hands on eggs.

Stores enforce purchase limits

Chains across the country have enforced limits on how many eggs customers can buy due to the high demand and shrinking supply.

“Due to ongoing issues with the supply of eggs, we are currently limiting egg purchases to one dozen per customer, per day, in all Trader Joe’s stores across the country,” a representative for Trader Joe’s confirmed to “Good Morning America” on Monday.

Other retailers, including Sprouts Farmers Market and Costco, have also implemented purchase limits on fresh eggs. Photos taken at Costco showed the warehouse giant limiting egg purchases to three per member.

This week, Lidl US announced it would also limit egg purchases to two per customer across all its stores.

“The following egg brands sold at Lidl US stores are currently limited to 2 per customer to ensure fair distribution: Green Valley, Simpson’s Eggs, and Puglisi’s Farm,” a Lidl US spokesperson said. “Specialty egg brands, including cage free, free range and organic, do not have limitations at this time at Lidl US.”

Despite concerns about the safety of eggs available in stores, experts say it’s highly unlikely to contract bird flu from commercially sold eggs.

Some turn to egg heists

Earlier this month, 100,000 organic eggs worth an estimated $40,000 were stolen from a facility in Green Castle, Pennsylvania.

Tom Flocco, CEO of Pete and Gerry’s Eggs, told “Good Morning America” in an exclusive interview last week that the company was going to boost security.

“I’ve worked in other industries before where things get stolen from factories,” Flocco said. “It happens. It’s terrible. I’m not happy about it, but it does happen. It could happen once; it could happen again. We are putting additional measures in place.”

Additionally, at Luna Park Café in Seattle, hundreds of dollars worth of eggs and other breakfast foods were stolen, according to the Seattle Police Department.

In the early morning hours on Feb. 5, two male suspects were caught on surveillance video entering a refrigerated shed at the restaurant, police said. The men stole 540 eggs worth $387, as well as bacon, ground beef, blueberries and liquid egg products, the SPD said.

A café employee said they saw one of the suspects return to the property, but he got back in the van and fled when he realized he’d been spotted, police said.

ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud, Kelly McCarthy, Joshua Richardson and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Authorities in New York City are searching for a man who allegedly impersonated a federal immigration enforcement agent before trying to rape a 51-year-old woman in broad daylight, according to police sources.

The victim was waiting for a cab outside a Brooklyn CityMD just before 11 a.m. Tuesday when the suspect approached and said he was an ICE agent and needed to talk to her, according to police sources.

The man allegedly forced her into a basement stairwell, punched her and tried to rape her, the NYPD said.

He took her phone, her purse and a chain before fleeing the scene, police said.

The woman suffered lacerations to her face, bruising and scratches, and was hospitalized in stable condition, police sad.

The suspect never showed any identification, according to police sources.

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(LOS ANGELES) — A new atmospheric river is bearing down on California, including fire-ravaged Los Angeles, where residents are bracing for the possibility of mudslides and landslides.

The storm moves into the Golden State on Wednesday, with the heaviest rain falling on Thursday and Friday.

Some areas could see as much as 5 to 10 inches of rain while the Sierra Nevada mountain range could see 5 to 8 feet of snow.

A flood watch is in effect from the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles.

The biggest concern for mudslides and landslides will be on the burn scar areas from last month’s devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles. These burn scar spots could see 3 to 5 inches of rain over the next three days.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city is preparing by clearing catch basins of fire debris; offering residents over 6,500 sandbags; setting up over 7,500 feet of concrete barriers; and having systems in place to capture polluted runoff.

Sheriff’s deputies “are helping residents prepare with sandbags and passing out mud and debris safety tips,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference Wednesday. “Our homeless outreach teams … are actively notifying individuals living in flood-prone areas like the LA River, Coyote Creek and other key waterways, urging them to relocate.”

The sheriff urged residents to prepare now in the event evacuation orders are issued.

“Unfortunately, we’ve witnessed numerous, numerous instances in the past of swift-water rescues where people were caught in dangerous, fast-moving water, and obviously, we want to prevent that,” he said.

“Nothing that you have back home is worth your life. If you decide to stay in your property in an evacuated area, debris from the burn scar areas and storm may impede roads, and we may not be able to reach you,” he warned.

Landslides from burn scars could be a threat in the region for years to come.

Post-wildfire landslides can exert great loads on objects in their paths, strip vegetation, block drainage ways, damage structures and endanger human life, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Additionally, wildfires could destabilize pre-existing, deep-seated landslides over long periods. Flows generated over longer periods could be accompanied by root decay and loss of soil strength, according to the USGS.

ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

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